


Do not fear the darkness, for all around you are the stars

by to-a-merrier-world (wayward_wolves)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Prompt Fill, Stars, Young Tauriel, taurielweek, the white light of forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 09:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4558902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_wolves/pseuds/to-a-merrier-world
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt Fill for TaurielWeek Day 1: The White Light of Forever (anything having to do with Tauriel's love for the stars)</p><p>After spending time talking to the young dwarf, Tauriel finds herself lost to memories of long ago, when she was still very young, and she had first seen the white light of forever fill the air.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do not fear the darkness, for all around you are the stars

**Author's Note:**

> “Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” — Sarah Williams
> 
> This is my first ever fic, so please let me know what you think! But be kind, please! I'm not looking for criticism! Thank you for reading!

_“It is memory, precious and pure,” she said, looking down into the dwarf’s, ‘Kili’ she had heard him called, eyes. She paused for a moment, then looked down at the rune stone in her hand, and couldn’t hold back a small smile. She seemed to be having that problem a lot, lately._

_“Like your promise,” she said, handing it back to him. He looked at her for a moment and then picked the stone from her hand. As he looked down at the stone, Tauriel looked around herself to make sure no other elves were near. She was filled with such an unexplainable warm feeling in her chest. She felt lighter and younger than she had in decades, since before she’d become Captain of the Guard and so many expectations had been laid upon her shoulders.  
_

_She turned back towards Kili, not even trying to hold back her smile._

_“I have walked there sometimes,” she said in a hushed voice. Kili looked back up at her, and when their eyes met, the warm feeling in her chest grew, and she had the inexplicable want to share the feeling with this strange and interesting dwarf._

_“Beyond the forest and up into the night,” she said, turning away to gaze upwards towards where she knew the stars were shining now. She could see them in her mind’s eye, and even their imagined image filled her with wonder and awe.  
_

_“I have seen the world fall away and the white light of forever fill the air.”  
_

_She stood there for a moment, lost in her imaginings, when the dwarf spoke, his voice soft and lovely._

_“I saw a fire moon once,” he said. Tauriel turned back towards him, intrigued.  
_

_“It rose over the pass near Dunland. Huge! Red and gold it was, it filled the sky,” his voice had filled with excitement. Tauriel stared at the dwarf with a hint of wonder in her eyes. He sounded as though he was filled with the same wonder as she. They looked at each other for a moment, both seeming to find a feeling of belonging in the other, a familiar glint in each other’s eyes.  
_

_“We were an escort for some merchants from Ered Luin,” Kili continued. Tauriel sat down, to put him at eye level to better listen to his story. She was terribly intrigued by a story of the world beyond the Greenwood, as she had never traveled beyond it’s borders._

_“They were trading in silverwork for furs. We took the Greenway south, keeping the mountain to our left, and then it appeared. This huge fire moon lighting our path. I wish I could show you...” he said, gesturing with his hands and making Tauriel smile. She wished he could show her, as well._

* * *

Tauriel sat off to the side staring off into space, a barely touched goblet of wine in her hand. Mereth Nuin Giliath was still in full swing, elves drinking, eating, and making merry all around her, but Tauriel barely noticed, lost in thought as she was. She and Kili had spoken for what must have been an hour, at least, losing themselves in stories of their pasts. It was strange, speaking to someone who she did not know, who was from a far off land she could hardly even imagine. 

Their conversation had led her to memories she had not recalled in many years. Memories of her parents and her childhood, spent running and hiding from Legolas in their perpetual game of hide and seek that they had played all those years ago. Her mother had been Captain of King Thranduil’s guard, just as Tauriel was now, and her father had been one of the royal healers. She had learned much from her parents. From her mother, she learned that the world was worth protecting, and how she could defend it, with blade and bow. From her father, she learned how to heal, and that life was precious and every free creature of Arda deserved kindness. But the memory Tauriel recalled now was none of these. As she sat among her kin, Tauriel remembered the first time her parents had taken her to the highest point in the Greenwood, and she had lost herself to the white light of forever for the very first time. 

* * *

_She had been so young then, a tiny thing, only just having reached her first decade. She had been so excited, anticipating the incredible sight of the stars from that point. Legolas had told her about them before, having been allowed to travel that far from home. Her heart had been filled with such yearning, hearing his excited description. She felt as though she had waited an entire Age by the time her parents agreed to take her._

_On the tenth anniversary of Tauriel’s conception, her parents took her to the peak of the highest mountain in the Greenwood. It took nearly half the day to reach, largely due to Tauriel’s inability to keep up with her parent’s long strides. She had quite short legs for an elf her age, but she was quicker than most to make up for it. When the trees began to thin and Tauriel was able to see more of the, by now, dark sky, her parents stopped her from going any further._

_“ **Take my hand, penneth, and close your eyes,** ” her mother said. Tauriel did as she was asked and took her mother’s hand, closing her eyes as she did so. Her father came and took her other hand, and together, her parents led her up and up. Soon, she felt a light breeze upon her face and she knew that they must be out of the trees now, and nearly to the top. She so wanted to open her eyes and take in all there was to see, but she trusted in her parents to show her what she wished dearly to see when the time was right.  
_

_When they finally came to a stop, Tauriel was nearly vibrating in excitement and anticipation. She felt her father kneel down beside her, and listened closely as he whispered in her ear._

_“ **We will have to climb now, silme nin. Do you trust me to see you safely to the top?** ” he asked, jokingly.  
_

_Tauriel giggled, “ **Of course, Ada!** ”_

_She heard the smile in her father’s voice as he replied, “ **Then place your arms around my neck, and hold on tight, penneth. And keep your eyes closed!** ”_

_Her father took her hands and placed them around his neck, then plucked her up from the ground. Tauriel wrapped her legs around her father’s stomach, and held on tight, like her father had told her. When he was sure that she would not fall, her father began to climb. Tauriel heard the rasp of skin and shoes against bark, and instantly knew that it was a tree they were climbing. She wiggled her feet in anticipation, making her father laugh softly under his breath._

_“ **We’re almost there, penneth, patience,** ” he said.  
_

_Soon after, Tauriel heard the rustling of leaves as her parents settled on a branch. Her father took her by the waist and whispered to her to let go. Tauriel complied and was placed on the branch between her parents._

_“ **Look, silme nin,** ” her mother whispered beside her, a smile in her voice.  
_

_Tauriel opened her eyes and gasped. Before her was the most wondrous sight she’d ever beheld. She was atop the largest mountain she’d ever been upon, and at the very top of that mountain was the tree where she and her parents sat on one of the highest branches. All around her, as far as her elven eyes could see, laid the Greenwood, and above it spread an uncountable array of stars, reaching from one horizon to the other, filling the very air with magic. Tauriel could hardly breathe the scene before her was so breathtaking. As she looked to the stars, Tauriel found herself being pulled, far, far away from the Greenwood, and up among them. She felt as though her soul was dancing between them, singing in time to their twinkling. So lost was she in her internal dance, she barely heard her mother as she began speaking in a hushed tone._

_“ **This, silme nin, is what it is to be a Wood Elf. All our souls dance above in the endless light of the stars, for they are memory, precious and pure. All light is sacred to the Eldar, silme nin, but it is we who love best the light of the stars.** ”_

_They sat together for a moment, all silently gazing at the stars._

_“ **Our souls are surrounded by darkness,** ” Tauriel whispered. She sounded almost dreamy, lost as she was to the stars. Her parents turned to her with questioning gazes.  
_

_“ **And yet,** ” she continued, “ **we do not fear the darkness, for all around us are the stars.** ”  
_

_She paused for a moment, her mouth slowly forming into a soft smile._

_“ **And what does one have to fear, when surrounded by those they love most?** ” she asked.  
_

_She turned to look at her parents then, and they were both smiling happily beside her. Eventually, they all turned back towards the scene before them, their souls dancing together in the endless light._ _They sat there until the first rays of the sun could be seen over the trees to the East._

* * *

" **Tauriel? Mellon nin?** ”

Tauriel came back to herself with a shuddering intake of breath. Before her stood Legolas with a goblet of wine and a slight crease to his brow. 

“ **Are you alright, mellon nin? I have been calling your name for some time now, yet you would not reply,** ” he said, sounding concerned, with only a twinge of annoyance lacing his words.

“ **You weren’t thinking of that...that _dwarf_ , were you?**” he asked, with barely concealed distaste.

Tauriel gave a small shake of her head, both in a denial and in exasperation for her friend’s misplaced dislike for a certain dwarfish prisoner. 

“ **No, mellon nin, I was not thinking of Kili,** ” she replied softly, purposefully using the dwarf’s name to both irritate her old friend and because, well, she rather liked saying his name. 

She looked up and away from her friend, to where she knew the stars were likely starting to fade now, as the sun’s rays stretched over the horizon.

“ **Then what were you thinking of?** ” Legolas asked, ignoring his friend’s chastisement in favor of sating his curiosity. Tauriel smiled slightly, her eyes growing distant as she began to lose herself to her imaginings yet again.

“ **The stars,** ” she whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> penneth=young one
> 
> silme nin=my starlight
> 
> Ada=dad/daddy
> 
> I’m not sure if these are all 100% correct, but I did my best.
> 
> Italics mean it happened in the past. Bolded means it’s being spoken in Sindarian.
> 
> Also, fun fact I found out while doing a bit of research, elves don’t celebrate birth dates, but conception dates, as that is when they believe life begins. Another fun fact, elvish children’s minds mature much more quickly than their bodies (they don’t reach adult height till fifty) which makes younger elves seem older than they actually are.
> 
> Also, just a little tidbit to go along with this story: I headcanon that Tauriel’s mother first heard the call of the gulls after a particularly nasty fight with a pack of orcs at the Greenwood’s Southern border. Many of her friends had died around her, and she was filled with such a great sadness that she could not remain in Middle Earth. Her father decided to go with her, as he could not remain in a world that his wife was not in. Tauriel was fully grown by this time (about 150), and so although she was sad to see them go, and would miss them dearly, she understood and did not hold their need to be together against them.


End file.
